header.dates
Header dates — StartDate, EndDate, FiscalYear, DateCreated
Time-window invariants AT enforces on the SAF-T Header block.
What AT checks
The Header block of the SAF-T file describes the period the file covers and when it was generated. AT enforces a few invariants on these dates:
| Field | Constraint |
|---|---|
StartDate | The first date covered by the file. |
EndDate | Must be strictly after StartDate. |
FiscalYear | Must equal the calendar year of StartDate. |
DateCreated | Should be on or after EndDate — you can't generate a file before the period it covers ends. |
Sub-rules SAFTCheck applies
header.dates.range— fires whenStartDate ≥ EndDate.header.dates.fiscal_year_mismatch— fires whenFiscalYeardoesn't match the year ofStartDate(warning).header.dates.created_before_end— fires whenDateCreated < EndDate(warning; AT may still accept).header.dates.future_end— fires whenEndDateis in the future (warning).
Common mistakes
- Year-end rollover. A January file with
FiscalYear=2025butStartDate=2026-01-01. The ERP rolled the year on one field but not the other. - Wrong period unit. Submitting a quarter when AT expects a month — or vice versa. The dates declare the unit; mismatching it against the submission window is a separate AT-side check.
- DateCreated set during testing. Files exported during ERP setup sometimes carry a
DateCreatedin the past or future from when they were actually built.
How to fix
- Check the export period selection in the ERP: most issues come from selecting the wrong start/end month.
- If the dates are right and only the FiscalYear is off, edit the company's fiscal year setting in the ERP and re-export. For one-off submissions, the inline editor can patch
FiscalYeardirectly on the validation result page. - If
DateCreatedis in the future or beforeEndDate, fix the ERP system clock and re-export — or use the inline editor for the immediate file.
The combined header.dates.range finding (StartDate vs EndDate) is not editable as a single field — fix StartDate or EndDate individually with the inline editor, or re-export.
Related
- Inline editor — patch FiscalYear / EndDate / DateCreated in place.
- Walkthrough: SAF-T submission deadlines and AT rejection workflow